Legislative Briefs…

Rafting Bill Still Alive

The Colorado House of Representatives voted today to send the controversial right-to-trespass bill, HB 1188, to conference committee. Representative Kathleen Curry, the House sponsor of the measure, did not support the Senate version of the bill which directed the Colorado Water Congress to facilitate a study regarding the issue and to report back to the legislature in November.

Rep. Curry asked for permission to have a conference committee established, which will be made up of 3 members from the House of Representatives and 3 members from the Senate. The committee will then be charged with trying to draft a compromise between the two versions of the bill. Colorado Farm Bureau has been very active in the discussions about this controversial bill, and supports the issue being taken off the table this legislative session and being further discussed in a study this summer.

CFB is asking the Colorado Senate to not agree to go to conference committee and to stand by their version of the bill.

Garin, do we know who the conference committee members will be and will we want to send all the legislators another round of why they should oppose this bill. What possibilities will the conference committee be able to come up with? Will the Senate oppose any thing other than the study which they supported the first time?

The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture reached a significant milestone in 2017 – 50 years since its founding. In the beginning the Foundation focused primarily on research for advancing agricultural mechanization and technology.

The Conservation Reserve Program is a voluntary program that pays farmers and ranchers to retire environmentally sensitive cropland. Contracts for land enrolled in CRP are 10 to 15 years in length, yet USDA Farm Service Agency data recently revealed that nearly one-quarter of all land enrolled in CRP has been enrolled for more than 20 years, and 12 percent o […]